Category Archives: Wellness

Back to the Green

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Green Juice

This needed to happen on this very gloomy Sunday. Not because its gloomy, it just needed to happen. I went a little overboard on the indulgences yesterday. After falling into the black hole of crafting, its time to shake off the dust and get serious. So I declared last week that it was time to shape up, mostly my diet, but still need to step up the workouts. I’ll probably be saying these same words my entire life, but its better than being complacent and letting it all go. Then I’d really be miserable… But doesn’t it always seem that as soon as you make such a declaration you are bombarded with obstacles and temptations?! Ayiyi!

Green Juice

  • 1-2 Green Apples or Pears
  • 1-2 lemons (one big, two small)
  • 1 bunch of spinach
  • 1/2 large cucumber
  • Handful of Kale
  • Pinch of Stevia if needed

Refrigerated produce is the best. Cut all the produce small enough to fit in the juicer shoot and start juicing. I have a Champion and just follow their directions for green juice. I rinse my greens in a big bowl of cold water and leave them in the water and add intermittently with the rest of the produce. I also re-juice the extracted pulp to get as much juice out as possible. The more fruit you use, the sweeter it will be, but will also have more sugar. Scrape off the foam that forms on the top. I find its impossible to get it all, but just get the big fluffy stuff. Best over ice, but I never have ice, so I suck it up.

This is a very flexible recipe, I usually add some fresh herbs like parsley and some add ginger. Anything that sounds good to you.

Inspiration for this juice is from both The 3-Day Cleanse and Kimberly Snyder’s book The Beauty Detox Solution. You can read my review of Kimberly’s book here.

Let me know if you make some and how it went!

New Year, New You

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Source: Mr. Singh

Or I should say, new me. A little late, but hey, its still January!

I want 2012 to be all about me. Not in a totally selfish way, but in a “concentrate on making myself better” kind of way. We don’t have kids yet and the Hubs is in school anyway so I think this is doable. Sometimes I let go of my goals to please others and that needs to stop, or when I’m plain lazy. Its not working out too well for me.

I’m not big on resolutions, but I do think I need to set some intentions for 2012.

1. Blog more and build up Kensington Button. I was doing very well when this started, as we all do, but have fallen off the wagon a little bit. I have been having some success selling stuff, which I will blog about soon, promise. I want to keep building that side of my life.

2. Workout 4+ days a week. Winter is always a difficult time for me, whether its seasonal depression or just a case of the Mondays (for 4 months straight), I probably will never know, but I do know that I am ALWAYS in a FUNK from November-February. I think getting back into my workout routine will help this a lot. Who doesn’t love endorphins??!!!??? My half-marathon training should help this, as long as I stick to it. And who knows, maybe someday I’ll consider personal training as a career path…

3. Practice more yoga. This is a really important one for me. I’m not naturally very limber, more limber than some, but my hips and shoulders are very tight. I’m pretty sure 17 years of sports and running hasn’t helped this much. Yoga is expensive and we are trying to save money this year, so I’ve been investing in Groupons and this has helped a lot. I’m also going to try to tune into the 21-day yoga challenge which sends you a video with a yoga session every day. I haven’t been keeping up but I was hoping just to follow along a few days a week.

4. I want to learn to eat more intuitively. Its so easy to pick up the snacks when I’m bored, stressed or tired and I want to really listen to my body. Some people don’t understand this, but the ones who do REALLY get it. Along the same lines, I want to make sure I’m making conscious food choices within my means. Eat less meat and processed foods and eat as much organic produce as our budget allows.

I think those are my main goals. I don’t want to get into very specific goals, like running a half marathon in under 2 hours…(I seriously want to accomplish that this year) but just some general areas to help me feel more grounded and happy in 2012.

Here’s to a wonderful 2012!!

2012 Races

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I have always been fairly athletic, played sports (club/intermural) and worked out religiously through college but found that since I graduated its been an ongoing struggle to stick with my gym schedule. I no longer play sports and have to work a 9-6. That really cramps the workout style. Running has always been my go-to workout. Of course I pepper in the machines at the gym and some weight lifting, but it always comes back to running. If I can’t run a 3 miles without feeling sluggish and out of breath, its time to start hitting the pavement again. I like to keep my endurance higher than that, but lets face it, we all fall off the wagon.

For me, races are a way to keep me motivated. Running is free (other than a pair of shoes), you don’t NEED fancy equipment (its nice to have), you don’t NEED a gym. You just need a safe place to run. I struggle with the “running is free” thing when races are pretty pricey. So I try not to stress the hubs by signing up for a ton of races and try to look for deals or make sure they are races that will be enjoyable.

As I posted before, we just completed our first half marathon, which was a bit of a bust, and now I am motivated more than ever to do it right. So I have signed up for my next half marathon for the spring, the Go! St. Louis, and signed both the Hubs and I up for Rock n Roll St. Louis for next fall. You might say to yourself, those races are REALLY far away. Well, not really. 6 months for the one in April and we get a stellar deal if we sign up early for RNR. $55 for a half, can’t beat it.

I wanted to sign up early and start training early because I have a fear of injury. I don’t want to over train or train too fast. I already have tender knees and ankles and I want to take care of them. I used Runner’s World Smart Coach for the GO! and went ahead and set it to start now. So I have started at about 12 miles/week and will ramp up to about 32 miles/week. I’m very excited to see what I can do in the next year. My goal is to get under 2:10 for GO! Secretly I REALLY want to do a sub 2:00 but I’m not going to push it.

Sidenote: I’m new to running at a specific pace and HATE treadmills so I might look into a Garmin 405, which sadly cost about as much as my Polar FT40 did when it was new, which I have been pretty disappointed with.

Does anyone else have a favorite gadget that they run with? What races have you signed up for?

Hot Yoga

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Something I wish I could do. From Pinterest.

About 5 years ago my good friend Becca asked me to go to a new yoga class with her. A little class called Bikram. At this point I had never done any yoga, I hadn’t ever really considered yoga because I was too busy running and playing sports, but this Bikram yoga sounded like a good workout. I had no idea what I was in for and I decided to go with her. They informed us that we get the second class free as a new student because they don’t want you to make final decision on your first impression. So we do the first class, all 90 minutes of hot sweaty torture. Becca HATED it, I LOVED it. I dragged OhJennyMae with me to the second class. She HATED it, I LOVED it. I see a pattern here. Apparently I love torture if it come in the form of exercise.

If you haven’t experienced Bikram for yourself, here’s a little bit from my point of view. If you have, excuse any incorrect terminology, I’m no yogi.  Each class is 90 minutes long. If that’s not enough to scare you away, keep reading. The room is hot, very very hot, and humid. 105 degrees and 40% humidity to be exact. It smells a little funny, I’d hate to know whats growing under the carpet tiles in that room. You do the same 26 poses every time. However, you can advance within each pose as you gain experience, strength and flexibility. I actually liked that it was the same each time, I could gauge where I was relative to the end since you cannot wear a watch. I think it actually goes faster when you know where you are in the sequence. You start and end each practice with breathing exercises. I found that the breathing, especially at the beginning, Pranayama, was one of the hardest postures. In fact the entire first half, the standing postures where much more difficult for me than the second half which is all on your mat. The instructor talks the entire class almost in a chant like way. They aren’t sing songy, but they have to have their timing just right so its always pretty much the exact same words. They are always telling you to push… push… PUSH and let go. Its almost militant, which for some people might be the only way they stay in that room. Its not kind, soft, gentle yoga. You almost feel beat up afterwards. In a way like, I just kicked that session’s ass but he got in some great shots and now I can’t walk for a few days. I think competitive people do better with this yoga. You have to be SO competitive with yourself, it’s a mind game to 1. stay 2. continue to push yourself further and 3. go back. Good luck if you ever try it, I hope you stick with it longer than I did.

I continued to go for a few months, maybe even a year, its fuzzy. I went once or twice a week at most, its pricey! There were things I liked and some I didn’t. I loved how I felt when I could push myself further than I did the class before, of course that’s what keeps everyone coming back. But I didn’t love how militant it was. There are a lot of rules and I didn’t feel like it could really be your own practice, the way other yoga studios encourage you. I understand some of the rules, like no watches or jewelry, they do not want distractions during such an intense yoga practice. But sometimes I almost felt trapped in that room. They discourage you so greatly to NEVER leave the room during the 90 minutes, but sometimes, you just want to die and not lay in Savasana. I went until I had a panic attack and couldn’t breath and was dizzy and was being yelled at by the instructor to push… push… push! It was too much.

I did yoga backwards. I started at the extreme and probably got scared away a bit and haven’t ever fully been able to practice as much as I want. There are plenty of free yoga sessions around town but I don’t feel practiced enough to get as much out of them as I’d like. I know it would improve my running tremendously and my stress, oh my stress.

So the Hubs sent this to me today, knowing my experience with hot yoga, I was dying half way through, enjoy:

Yoga mat for sale. Used once at lunch hour class in December 2009. Usage timeline as follows:

11:45a
Register for hot yoga class. Infinite wisdom tells me to commit to 5 class package and purchase a yoga mat. I pay $89.74. Money well spent, I smugly confirm to myself.

11:55a
Open door to yoga room. A gush of hot dry air rushes through and past me. It smells of breath, sweat and hot. Take spot on floor in back of room next to cute blonde. We will date.

11:57a
I feel the need to be as near to naked as possible. This is a problem because of the hot blonde to my left and our pending courtship. She will not be pleased to learn that I need to lose 30 pounds before I propose to her.

11:58a
The shirt and sweats have to come off. I throw caution to the wind and decide to rely on my wit and conditioning to overcome any weight issues my fiancée may take issue with. This will take a lot of wit and conditioning.

11:59a
Begin small talk with my bride to be. She pretends to ignore me but I know how she can be. I allow her to concentrate and stare straight ahead and continue to pretend that I don’t exist. As we finish sharing our special moment, I am suddenly aware of a sweat moustache that has formed below my nose. This must be from the all the whispering between us.

12:00p
Instructor enters the room and ascends her special podium at the front of the room. She is a slight, agitated Chinese woman. She introduces me to the class and everyone turns around to greet me just as I decide to aggressively adjust my penis and testes packed in my Under Armor. My bride is notably unfazed.

12:02p
Since I do have experience with Hot Yoga (4 sessions just 5 short years ago) I fully consider that I may be so outstanding and skilled that my instructor may call me out and ask me to guide the class. My wife will look on with a sparkle in her eye. We will make love after class.

12:10p
It is now up to 95 degrees in the room. We have been practicing deep breathing exercises for the last 8 minutes. This would not be a problem if we were all breathing actual, you know, oxygen. Instead, we are breathing each other’s body odor, expelled carbon dioxide and other unmentionables. (Don’t worry, I’ll mention them later.)

12:26p
It is now 100 degrees and I take notice of the humidity, which is hovering at about 90%. I feel the familiar adorning stare of my bride and decide to look back at her. She appears to be nauseated. I then realize that I forgot to brush my teeth prior to attending this class. We bond.

12:33p
It is now 110 degrees and 95% humidity. I am now balancing on one leg with the other leg crossed over the other. My arms are intertwined and I am squatting. The last time I was in this position was 44 years ago in the womb, but I’m in this for the long haul. My wife looks slightly weathered dripping sweat and her eyeliner is streaming down her face. Well, “for better or worse” is what we committed to so we press on.

12:40p
The overweight Hispanic man two spots over has sweat running down his legs. At least I think its sweat. He is holding every position and has not had a sip of water since we walked in. He is making me look bad and I hate him.

12:44p
I consider that if anyone in this room farted that we would all certainly perish.

12:52p
It is now 140 degrees and 100% humidity. I am covered from head to toe in sweat. There is not a square millimeter on my body that is not slippery and sweaty. I am so slimy that I feel like a sea lion or a maybe sea eel. Not even a bear trap could hold me. The sweat is stinging my eyeballs and I can no longer see.

12:55p
This room stinks of asparagus, cloves, tuna and tacos. There is no food in the room. I realize that this is an amalgamation of the body odors of 30 people in a 140 degree room for the last 55 minutes. Seriously, enough with the asparagus, ok?

1:01p
140 degrees and 130% humidity. Look, bitch, I need my space here so don’t get all pissy with me if I accidentally sprayed you with sweat as I flipped over. Seriously, is that where this relationship is going? Get over yourself. We need counseling and she needs to be medicated. Stat!

1:09p
150 degrees and cloudy. And hot. I can no longer move my limbs on my own. I have given up on attempting any of the commands this Chinese chick is yelling out at us. I will lay sedentary until the aid unit arrives. I will buy this building and then have it destroyed.
I lose consciousness.

1:15p
I have a headache and my wife is being a selfish bitch. I can’t really breathe. All I can think about is holding a cup worth of hot sand in my mouth. I cannot remember what an ice cube is and cannot remember what snow looks like. I consider that my only escape might be a crab walk across 15 bodies and then out of the room. I am paralyzed, and may never walk again so the whole crab walk thing is pretty much out.

1:17p
I cannot move at all and cannot reach my water. Is breathing voluntary or involuntary? If it’s voluntary, I am screwed. I stopped participating in the class 20 minutes ago. Hey, lady! I paid for this frickin class, ok?! You work for me! Stop yelling at everyone and just tell us a story or something. It’s like juice and cracker time, ok?

1:20p
It is now 165 degrees and moisture is dripping from the ceiling. The towel that I am laying on is no longer providing any wicking or drying properties. It is actually placing additional sweat on me as I touch it. My towel reeks. I cannot identify the smell but no way can it be from me. Did someone spray some stank on my towel or something?

1:30p
Torture session is over. I wish hateful things upon the instructor. She graciously allows us to stay and ‘cool down’ in the room. It is 175 degrees. Who cools down in 175 degrees? A Komodo Dragon? My wife has left the room. Probably to throw up.

1:34p
My opportunity to escape has arrived. I roll over to my stomach and press up to my knees. It is warmer as I rise up from ground level – probably by 15 degrees. So let’s conservatively say it’s 190. I muster my final energy and slowly rise. One foot in front of the other. One foot in front of the other. Towards the door. Towards the door.

1:37p
The temperature in the lobby is 72 degrees. Both nipples stiffen to diamond strength and my penis begins to retract into my abdomen from the 100 degree temp swing. I can once again breathe though so I am pleased. I spot my future ex wife in the lobby. We had such a good thing going but I know that no measure of counseling will be able to unravel the day’s turmoil and mental scaring.

1:47p
Arrive at Emerald City Smoothie and proceed to order a 32 oz beverage. 402 calories, 0 fat and 14 grams of protein — effectively negating any caloric burn or benefit from the last 90 minutes. I finish it in 3 minutes and spend the next 2 hours writing this memoir.

3:47p
Create Craigslist ad while burning final 2 grams of protein from Smoothie and before the “shakes” consume my body.

4:29p
Note to self – check car for missing wet yoga towel in am.

-From Craigslist

Detox and a Book Review

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Glowing Green Smoothie

Since reading Michael Pollan’s Eat Real Food last summer, I have had these messages of “eat organic” ”eat local” “eat green” stuck in the back of my head. I can’t seem to shake them. Then this summer I went and read The 3-Day Cleanse by Zoe Sakoutis and Erica Huss, and it just got worse. I did an at-home 3-day juice cleanse following their guidelines. Even still, I have not been able to fully change my eating habits to conform to any of their ideals, but I’m getting there. So as I get there, I have immersed myself once again in self-help book. Lets face it, that’s what all of these are.

Upon recommendation I am reading Beauty Detox Solution by Kimberly Snyder, C.N.  I have not finished it nor have I done a full week of her eating plan, but so far I really like it. Some of her ideas sound far fetched to me, but I’m not the certified nutritionist who has made millions. Her main idea is that if we relieve our digestive system of all that hard work by eating the right foods in the right order, our body will have enough energy to regenerate cells and make us more beautiful. A lot of it is about toxin build up and protein digestion eating up so much of our energy. Its more complicated than that, but you get the idea.  I think she hits the nail on the head about our general energy levels being low and it makes sense that evolution intended for us to eat a mostly plant based, raw diet. One of the most interesting bits that I picked up was that calorie for calorie, plants have around twice as much protein as meat. Now that does mean you probably have to eat at least twice the volume of food. This is probably not a problem for most of us.

Some of her ideas are extreme for me, I will likely never become a vegetarian let alone a vegan or raw-foodist. However, I feel that there is huge merit to fitting in more greens and plant foods and limiting our dairy and meat intake, which Pollan and the Cleanse-Besties also recommend. They seem to actually be writing about a lot of the same studies and Snyder references Pollan on more than a few occasions.

So I’ve decided to try her middle-of-the-road option, Radiant Beauty. As I am not grossly overweight, nor am I already living clean, but I could stand to make some changes. So today was Day 1 and I started with a Glowing Green Smoothie. I will likely switch to the green juice for my breakfast sooner than later. I don’t love the texture of the smoothie, but that might have everything to do with my blender. Luckily I already know that I LOVE the green juice, it was my favorite from the 3-Day Cleanse.

Of course I filled my mom in on my reading and she pointed out that maybe our bodies are not designed to allocate extra energy into making us beautiful, but what does she know!

More to come if this goes anywhere.